OT goal puts Sabres up 3-2

Times wires
Friday, April 22, 2011

PHILADELPHIA — The Flyers have the comeback. The Sabres have the win, one more putting them into Round 2.

Tyler Ennis scored 5:31 into overtime Friday for a 4-3 victory and 3-2 series lead.

Mike Webber's shot bounced off goalie Michael Leighton's pads. Ennis swooped in from the right side and scored his second goal of the game.

"This is … a great place to play," Ennis said. "Any time you can silence the crowd like that, it's an awesome feeling."

The Sabres led 3-0 just 15:36 in. Brian Boucher allowed two soft goals — Ennis and Thomas Vanek put pucks in off his leg — 1:27 apart. After Marc-Andre Gragnani's power-play goal, out was Boucher and in was Leighton, who spent all but one game this season in the minors.

"I'd very much like to redeem myself," said Boucher, who took out a row of sticks upon reaching the bench. "To put your team in a hole like that, they didn't deserve that."

Philadelphia, the East's No. 2 seed, had no Jeff Carter (its leading goal-scorer during the regular season, out with a right knee injury) and no Chris Pronger (its top defenseman, out with a broken right hand) and is on its third goalie (Sergei Bobrovsky was chased in Game 2).

But this is the team that rallied from a 3-0 series deficit to beat Boston last season.

"We can't hang our heads," said Danny Briere, who tied it in the third. "We were in a worse position last year. So if there's a group of guys that can do it, I believe in this group here."

Sabres	3	0	0	1	4
Flyers	0	2	1	0	3

Sabres	3	0	0	1	4
Flyers	0	2	1	0	3

First Period—1, Buffalo, Ennis 1 (Niedermayer, Leopold), 2:24. 2, Buffalo, Vanek 3 (Kaleta, Gaustad), 3:51. 3, Buffalo, Gragnani 1 (Myers, Pominville), 15:36 (pp). Penalties—Meszaros, Phi (tripping), 8:50; Montador, Buf (high-sticking), 11:43; Butler, Buf (roughing), 13:46; Richards, Phi (slashing), 13:46; Briere, Phi (goaltender interference), 14:50.

Second Period—4, Philadelphia, van Riemsdyk 2 (Meszaros, Giroux), 8:12. 5, Philadelphia, Meszaros 1 (O'Donnell, Giroux), 9:57. Penalties—Gaustad, Buf (holding), 2:39; Niedermayer, Buf (delay of game), 4:30; Gragnani, Buf (cross-checking), 13:45.

Third Period—6, Philadelphia, Briere 3 (Richards, Versteeg), 3:36. Penalties—Briere, Phi (interference), 7:36; Leopold, Buf (hooking), 17:38. First Overtime—7, Buffalo, Ennis 2 (Weber, Montador), 5:31. Penalties—None. Shots on Goal—Buffalo 13-5-11-3—32. Philadelphia 9-15-11-4—39. Power-play opportunities—Buffalo 1 of 3; Philadelphia 0 of 5. Goalies—Buffalo, Miller 3-2-0 (39 shots-36 saves). Philadelphia, Boucher (11-8), Leighton 0-1-0 (15:36 first, 21-20). A—19,959 (19,537).

Top goalie finalists: The Canucks' Roberto Luongo (38-15-7, 2.11 goals-against average), the Predators' Pekka Rinne (33-22-9, 2.12) and the Bruins' Tim Thomas 35-11-9, 2.00) are finalists for the Vezina Trophy.

Bruin fined: The league fined Boston defenseman Andrew Ference $2,500 for making an obscene gesture to Canadiens fans during Game 4 on Thursday. Ference apologized after the game and again Friday, saying the gesture was an accident, made while trying to pump his glove to celebrate.

Around the league: Capitals wing Mike Knuble will sit out today for Game 5 against the Rangers with an undisclosed injury. He also missed Game 4. … Henrik Zetterberg, the Red Wings' leading scorer (80 points) in the regular season and who missed the first-round sweep of the Coyotes with a left knee injury, skated and is expected to be ready for the second round. … The Coyotes signed forward Brett Hextall, the son of former goalie Ron Hextall and their sixth-round draft pick in 2008. As a junior this season at North Dakota, he had 13 goals, 16 assists and 63 penalty minutes in 39 games.

Late Thursday: Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa scored twice as the visiting Blackhawks stayed alive for the second straight game by beating the Canucks 5-0 to pull within 3-2 in their West series. Keith, who also had two assists, Hossa and Patrick Kane scored in the first 12:17. Only three teams have won a series after trailing 3-0.

Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/ot-goal-puts-sabres-up-3-2/1165586

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